Chapter 56 - The Iron Sky
The drop-pod slammed into the ventral docking bay of the *Archon* with a bone-jarring crash. The electromagnetic clamping arms groaned under the strain, sparks raining down across the cockpit canopy as the atmospheric seals pressurized with a high-pitched scream.
Michael Mercer didn't wait for the green light. He kicked open the emergency manual release, rack-sliding the charging handle of an Archon-issue kinetic assault rifle he pulled from the rack beside the hatch.
"Lucas, stay on Vance," Michael ordered, his voice steady, the pain in his body completely overridden by the surge of pure adrenaline. "If he twitches, put a bullet in his other knee."
"Dad, you can't clear that corridor alone," Lucas protested, struggling to his feet, holding his side. "Look at the telemetry. There are at least thirty private security operators between here and the bridge."
"I'm not alone," Maya said, stepping out beside Michael, dual high-capacity combat shotguns slung across her chest. "The automated maintenance frames on this deck still answer to my biometric signature. If we can reach the junction box fifty meters down this hall, I can turn the internal defense turrets on the Chairman’s men."
"Then we move. Fast," Michael said.
The air inside the *Archon* was bone-chillingly cold, pressurized to seventy percent oxygen to minimize the risk of electrical fires. It smelled of ozone, liquid nitrogen, and the unmistakable, stale scent of fifty years of hidden military history.
They pushed down the long, octagonal iron corridor. Heavy pipes groaned along the ceiling, venting super-cooled helium to the anti-gravity drives below. Every bulkhead was stamped with the fading Department of Defense eagle, surrounded by thirteen stars—the relics of an empire that had traded its soul for secret power.
Suddenly, a heavy blast door at the far end of the corridor hissed open.
Three heavy infantrymen stepped through, clad in mechanized exoskeleton suits, carrying rotary heavy machine guns designed for hull defense.
"Contact!" Michael roared, diving behind a recessed support pillar as a storm of armor-piercing rounds shredded the steel walls, throwing up clouds of insulation and blinding sparks.
Maya dropped to one knee, sliding across the slick deck toward the junction panel, firing her shotgun with one hand to suppress the middle gunner. "I need four seconds!" she yelled over the deafening mechanical roar of the rotary cannons.
Michael leaned out, firing disciplined two-round bursts. His bullets sparked uselessly against the heavy armor of the lead mercenary’s chest plate. "They're shielded! Aim for the hydraulic lines in the joints!"
From behind them, inside the pod, Lucas dragged Vance out by his collar, pressing his sidearm to the Admiral's temple. "Vance! Voice authorization! Shut down the internal combat drones, or I paint this deck with your brains!"
Vance chuckled, coughing blood, his eyes wide with madness. "It's too late, boy! Look down the corridor! That's not the Iron Guard!"
Michael looked through the haze of smoke.
The mercenaries ceased firing. They stood at attention, lowering their weapons, parting to form an honor guard.
Walking slowly through the smoke was a tall, slender man in a bespoke three-piece suit, untouched by the war around him. His hair was silver, his face chiseled and devoid of human warmth. In his left hand, he held a walking stick tipped with a sphere of pure, glowing basalt.
In his right hand, he held a heavy iron collar linked to a carbon-fiber chain.
At the other end of the chain was a woman with silver-streaked dark hair, wearing a torn flight suit, her wrists bound in iron restraints.
Michael’s heart felt as though it had been ripped out through his chest.
"Eleanor," he breathed.
May you like
The silver-haired man smiled, stopping twenty yards away behind his wall of armored soldiers.
"Commander Mercer," the Chairman said, his voice smooth, cultured, carrying the cold finality of an executioner. "Twenty-four years ago, I gave you a choice to join the architects of the new world. You chose your little submarine. And now, you arrive just in time to watch your wife pull the trigger on your entire species."
